England and France meet in the Rugby League World Cup in Perth

England face France in a must-win game at the Rugby League World Cup 2026.

The Three Lions began their campaign with a 30-12 defeat to Tonga - leaving their qualification hopes hanging by a thread.

Brian McDermott's side have to beat the French to keep their hopes of reaching the knock-out stages alive.

Mikey Lewis has been promoted to the bench after missing out against Tonga. He was initially left out of this one too but he now comes in at the expense of Zach Eckersley, who has been left out entirely.

France arrive at this one smarting following a 78-4 hammering by Samoa, so England will have to wary of a wounded beast.

Here is everything you need to know...

When is England v France?

The game between the two sides takes place on Saturday, October 24, at Perth Rectangular Stadium, Perth, Australia

What time is kick-off?

Proceedings get under way at 7.35am UK time.

Is the game on TV?

Yes, the game will be shown live on Premier Sports 1.

What about streaming?

Premier Sports customers will be able to stream the game via the Premier Sports app.

Teams

England: AJ Brimson, Dom Young, Hugo Savala, Herbie Farnworth, Matty Ashton, George Williams, Harry Smith, Max King, Brad O’Neill, Luke Thompson, Junior Nsemba, Kai Pearce-Paul, Victor Radley.

Replacements: Jez Litten, Ethan Havard, Sam Walters, Ben Currie, Jack Welsby, Mikey Lewis.

Quotes corner

McDermott: “This is the first hit-out we’ve had, the first time we came together. We had two field sessions together after the players had a very long journey to get to Perth. They flew over Perth and past Perth to Sydney, and then came back to Perth.

“The players were still feeling those levels of fatigue on the Monday they got here, so we only really had two proper sessions. That’s why I’m so confident with the cohesion that we had with that in mind.”